Researchers and school districts can partner to benefit education practice

In their February 2015 Phi Delta Kappan article, Marco A. Muñoz and Robert J. Rodosky from Jefferson County Public Schools in Kentucky offer a valuable school district perspective on how arrangements between research partners and districts can be more or less productive, and how the benefits from these partnerships can be maximized for schools. From the author’s perspective, “research intended to improve teaching and learning – not just the agenda of researchers – can yield powerful results.”

They reflect on several partnerships in their district that have been beneficial, including a codesigned and implemented doctoral program for teachers and administrators at University of Louisville’s College of Education and Human Development. One goal of the program was to have participating teachers and administrators focus on research-based projects directly relevant for improving teaching and learning in the district. Other successful projects named include: the Strategic Data Project with Harvard Universidy, the 8-year, design-based Middle School Mathematics and the Institutional Setting of Teaching project with Vanderbilt University, and the Literacy Academy Project with Bellarmine University. These partnerships were long-term collaborations that successfully leveraged research to address persistent problems of practice.